Yorkshire must plan for life without Jaques

Yorkshire will today announce the departure of veteran batsman Phil Jaques, who is returning to his native Australia to pursue a coaching career.

Jaques will leave a sizeable hole having scored 4,039 first-class runs at 51.12 in his two spells with the club.

But with Yorkshire having 
re-signed New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson as their overseas player for next summer, and with a largely young squad having achieved a runners-up place in this year’s Championship, Moxon is adamant that Jaques is leaving a club in good shape.

“Phil has been a terrific servant to Yorkshire, but with Kane having signed and with the progress made by our younger batsmen, I think we’ve got the bases covered for next year,” said Moxon.

“We’re now a very competitive side; we’ve lost only two games in 32 in Championship cricket, which is testament to that fact.

“Phil has played a big part in helping us get to this stage and has been a big asset to Yorkshire over the years – not just on the field, but off it too with our younger players.

“His nickname is ‘Pro’, and that’s exactly what he is – the ultimate professional.”

Jaques, 34, is understood to be hoping to work with the New South Wales second team in addition to duties at Sydney club Sutherland.

He coached Sutherland last winter and also held a coaching role with Big Bash franchise Sydney Thunder.

“Phil wants to get more into coaching,” said Moxon.

“He’s got this role at Sutherland and Jack Leaning, one of our young players, is going to play for them this winter, and Phil’s been instrumental in getting that sorted.

“It’s nice to have that connection in Sydney for our young players to get some experience over there.

“I don’t think Phil’s completely given up on playing cricket, but he doesn’t want to come back to England for a full season. If he does come back, it would just be for a short space of time if the opportunity arose somewhere.”

Jaques’s departure is offset by the recommitment of Williamson, the 23-year-old who made a splendid impression on a short-term contract at the end of last season.

Williamson scored 403 runs in five Championship games at 50.37, while his part-time off-spin suggested it could one day graduate into more of a full-time weapon.

It is not so much Jaques’s loss that Yorkshire must contend with, however, but the potential unavailability of Gary Ballance, chosen for the forthcoming Ashes tour.

Yorkshire have no funds to sign full-time batting replacements, with the club heavily reliant on developing young players, but Moxon believes they can build on this season’s efforts.

“We can’t be complacent, but we’re in a decent place and need to work on our younger players to give us more depth,” he added.

“When you look at the batting order, there are a lot of good players in there, and we need to keep pushing them forward.

“It all goes back to that old conundrum of trying to win games while trying to develop players.

“It’s a constant challenge that we face.”

Yorkshire are still unsure whether they will have Williamson for the whole summer; there is a two-month tour of the West Indies mooted for New Zealand in May-June, but details have yet to be confirmed.

The county may have scope to sign a short-term replacement or could dip their toe into the loan market, depending on circumstances.

“We’re still waiting for clarification on Kane’s situation,” said Moxon.

“There’s supposed to be this tour to the West Indies, but that’s yet to be confirmed.

“It’s around the time of the Indian Premier League, so it’s not 100 per cent certain to go ahead.

“If he wasn’t available, we’d have to consider our options, but it’s all up in the air at the moment.”

Even were Williamson temporarily unavailable, Yorkshire have showed enough to suggest they can mount another title challenge next year.

Moxon and first-team coach Jason Gillespie have presided over some superb performances during the course of a season in which it took an outstanding effort from Durham to pip them to the prize.

“Apart from a couple of matches, the lads played some really good cricket this year,” said Moxon.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to Durham; it’s unusual for a team to win 10 games and it was an outstanding achievement by them.

“If we can win seven or eight again next year, we’re going to be there or thereabouts.

“Overall, I think Durham won it rather than us losing it, and hopefully we can build on our efforts next summer.”

One man sure to be wishing Yorkshire well from afar is Jaques, who scored 2,477 first-class runs at 61.92 during his first spell at Headingley in 2004-2005 and a further 1,562 at 40.05 in the past two seasons.

The left-hander can also look back with pride on 1,588 List A runs for the club at 39.70 and 907 Twenty20 runs at 31.27.

The Phil Jaques Statistics...

Born: May 3, 1979; Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.

Major teams: Australia, New South Wales, Northamptonshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire.

Role: Left-hand batsman.

Test record: Matches 11, Innings 19, Runs 902, Average 47.47, Highest score 150, 100s 3, 50s 6.

One-day international record: Matches 6, Innings 6, Not Outs 0, Runs 125, Average 20.83, Highest score 94, 50s 1.

First-class record: Matches 189, Innings 326, Not Outs 12, Runs 15,141, Average 48.21, Highest score 244, 100s 42, 50s 70.

Twenty20 record: Matches 81, Innings 78, Not Outs 9, Runs 2,028, Average 29.39, Highest score 92, 50s 13.